The new sweet cherry variety ‘Vieyra’ was discovered by the inventor in 2008, in a ‘Rainier’ cherry (not patented) orchard near East Wenatchee, Wash. ‘Vieyra’ is believed to be a whole-tree mutation of ‘Rainier’, distinguished by its early maturity and larger and redder fruit as compared to ‘Rainier’. In 2009, after observing the distinguishing characteristics again, the inventor budded scionwood cuttings of the ‘Vieyra’ tree on ‘Mazzard’ rootstock (not patented) near East Wenatchee, Wash., to produce 18 nursery trees for further observation. The test trees were planted in the spring of 2011 near East Wenatchee, with additional test trees planted the following year. ‘Vieyra’ cherry has been found to exhibit its distinctive characteristics through successive asexually propagated generations.
‘Vieyra’ was initially selected for, and is distinguished by, its early-maturing fruit. The ‘Vieyra’ cherry ripens 8 to 10 days earlier than ‘Rainier’ and exhibits a brighter red overcolor as compared to ‘Rainier’. It has also been observed that the trunk lenticels of ‘Vieyra’ are larger and more prominent than those of ‘Rainier’.
As compared to the fruit of the ‘Doty’ cherry tree (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,951) ‘Vieyra’ cherries are larger, with a brighter overcolor and whiter flesh.
‘Vieyra’ cherries have a shorter stem and tighter seed cavity than either ‘Doty’ or ‘Rainier’ cherries.
The colors of these photographs may vary with lighting conditions. Color characteristics of this new variety should therefore be determined with reference to the observations described herein, rather than from the photographs alone.